TEHRAN (FNA)- The central banks of Iran and Iraq signed a cooperation agreement to facilitate trade exchange between the two neighbors.

The agreement was signed at the presence of Governor of Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif and his Iraqi counterpart Ali al-Alaq in Baghdad on Wednesday.

The two sides also discussed cooperation in offering LCs and bank guarantees for greater trade exchange.

This comes as the Central Bank of Iran and 15 other banks have already re-engaged with the banking world as international lenders link up with their Iranian counterparts using global transaction network SWIFT.

According to senior officials, Iran is now reconnected to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the global provider of secure financial messaging services through which LCs can now be issued as well.

In an update on its website, SWIFT has said the European Union has announced that the Implementing Legislation has taken effect. SWIFT has informed the relevant stakeholders about the necessary measures that need to be put in place to make it possible for those banks that are delisted by the Implementing Regulation to reconnect to SWIFT.

As previously stated, those banks that are delisted by the Implementing Regulation will now automatically be able to reconnect to SWIFT, following the completion of our normal connection process (i.e. administrative and systems checks, connectivity and technical arrangements).

The announcement follows implementation of Iran’s nuclear agreement, where the EU, the United Nations and the United States lifted sanctions on the country in exchange for curbs on its civilian nuclear activities.

SWIFT is a global supplier of secure messaging services, which is used by nearly every bank around the world to send payment messages that lead to the transfer of money across international borders. It operates service transmitting letters of credit, payments and securities transactions among 9,700 banks in 209 countries.

In early 2012, SWIFT announced that under pressure from the European Union, it had decided to discontinue communications services to Iranian banks and financial institutions that are subject to European sanctions. Accordingly, it blocked 30 Iranian banks from using its services, literally cutting off Iran from the global banking system.

Several Iranian private banks including Dey, Saman, Pasargad, and Parsian in addition to two state-run banks - Maskan and Keshavarzi - are currently connected to the SWIFT network.

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